Vanilla Pear Dessert Muffins

Last weekend, I had marvelous visions of using up a few pears to make a delicious looking pear upside down cake that I saw on Guilt Free Sparrow.  That idea was derailed by the large quantities of fresh rhubarb in my garden that were just begging to be made into a pie; and so I found myself with two firm but very ripe pears looking to be used up.

I found a yummy looking pear muffin recipe at allrecipes.com and made my usual tweaks to suit my tastes.  I kept this version sweet, so it's less for the kids and more for grown ups with a hankering for a little treat.  I hope you'll enjoy them; I certainly did... apparently I was so busy enjoying them that I forgot to take a picture...

Vanilla Pear Dessert Muffins

1 1/2 c whole wheat flour

1 tsp gluten flour *

2/3c white sugar **

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

pinch salt

1/2 c plain 2% Greek yogurt

1/2 c oil of choice (I used vegetable)

1 egg

3 tsp vanilla extract

2 pears, peeled and diced

1.  Preheat oven to 375F and prepare muffin tin (line with muffin cups or grease pan).

2.  In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt.

3.  In a smaller bowl, combine yogurt, oil, lightly beaten egg and vanilla.

4.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mixing until just combined.

5.  Fold in diced pears.

6.  Divide batter among muffin cups and bake 22-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Makes 12 muffins

* Alternatively, substitute 1/2c all purpose flour for whole wheat (so 1 c whole wheat flour and 1/2 c all purpose flour).

** You could probably cut this down to 1/2 c and these muffins would still be a sweet and tasty dessert!

My muffins are not generally sweet, so these dessert muffins have been a nice change from the ordinary!  I packed about half of them into the freezer so that I'll be able to enjoy them at their prime in the future when I'm looking for a quick and easy something sweet. 

I think I'll leave it there for today - we're leaving in the wee hours tonight/tomorrow to drive to Ottawa for my sister's wedding, and there's a bit more to be done between now and then.  It'll be a fantastic and busy weekend with Little Smiling Man as Ring Bearer, Mini Muffin as Flower Girl, and myself as Matron of Honour.  I'm really looking forward to it, as well as a bit of downtime afterwards!